We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
The incredible turbulence we have faced and continue to face in the dairy industry serves notice for the need for management to go to a new, higher level. Albert Einstein’s admonition holds: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”
I believe that for most dairy farms and agribusinesses, quality assurance is a key to achieving this new, higher level.
In the first two parts (Click here for Part I and click here for Part II) of our discussion, we contemplated a wide variety of topics to keep your dairy healthy. In our third and final part, we will talk about saving money by becoming more energy-efficient, assessing your financial situation and putting a good team together to help you manage the dairy.
Let’s first talk about energy savings on your dairy. Why should you care about this? If your dairy needs to “come back to life,” you must seriously look at this category as well as “cow categories.”
If you’ve ever managed a team or even been a part of one, you probably know firsthand how challenging it is to get all your people to move together in the right direction at the same time. And although most managers rank employee management as the most important part of their job, they tend to avoid it because it’s also the most challenging aspect of their job.
Ironically, managing employees becomes more and more difficult as a result of avoiding this huge challenge from the very start.
So let’s be honest with ourselves. When it comes to work, most of us tend to do the jobs that we like to do first and save the jobs we don’t enjoy doing for last. And employee-related issues usually fall to the bottom of the list.
Sure, most of the time you have a perfectly good reason for not dealing with employee management issues. The truth is that you’re probably really busy taking care of all the other important jobs you’re responsible for.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work,” quipped Thomas Edison.
Kudos to the dairy producers who have joined trading simulation groups to learn how to apply marketing strategies. Learning this stuff is a lot of work.
“I wish I could just sit back and get the milk check at the end of the month without having to learn all this,” one producer said in a trading group conference call. “But I know that isn’t a good long-term solution,” he added.
So they keep on keepin’ on. The five producers who make up the first Progressive Dairyman Trading Simulation Group are tracking their positions using the University of Florida’s Financial and Agricultural Commodity Trading Simulation – FACTSim for short. They’ve agreed to monthly conference calls to compare notes on their feed and milk pricing strategies and the impact of their decisions.
Why is peak milk important?
• Increased milk yield. The vast majority of dairies generate the vast majority of their incomes through milk sales. The correlation between peak milk yield and actual 305-day milk production is highly positive.
Each additional pound of peak milk should translate into an additional 200-280 lbs of milk in mature cows and 300+ lbs in first-calf heifers across the entire lactation. Conservatively, each one-pound increase in herd average peak milk production should generate at least 20,000 lbs more milk per 100 cows per year.
Are you getting your milk quality bonuses frequently? How much money are you leaving on the table every month? How are you using your cow records to help you with your milk quality? With the current milk prices, you need that extra income more than ever.
I will discuss some common cow record issues that will help improve your herd health and the quality of the milk you harvest. With good information and a hospital SOP, you could reduce your treatment costs and have healthier cows that will produce more and better quality milk to increase your dairy’s profitability.
We’ve all heard the stories … a producer ends up dumping a tank of milk because the “hot milk” was refused. No one likes to think about milk cooling until they have a problem and, let’s face it, the equipment necessary for good milk cooling isn’t cheap. Ignoring your milk cooling equipment, thereby risking milk quality, can be a producer’s downfall.
As the average dairy size continues to grow, much of today’s milk cooling remains outdated and inefficient. With increasing restrictions on energy consumption nationwide, as well as the rebates available for refrigeration system replacements or retrofits in some areas, it’s an issue every producer and service professional should educate themselves on.
If you are into numbers, the trends in demand and supply are a fascinating topic, especially when you apply the concept to the dairy industry. The theory is simple – an increase in demand allows prices to rise, encouraging supply growth.
As stocks and supply increase to the point of excess, prices fall, resulting in a contraction of supply and reset of the supply/demand balance. The reality is a long way from simple and that has certainly proved to be the case in our research on the U.S. dairy market.
Our communities cannot reach their full potential without the local presence of a bank – a bank that understands the financial and credit needs of its citizens, farmers, businesses and government.
I am concerned this model may be in jeopardy, given the massive weight of new rules and regulations that will result from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act). The vast majority of banks in this country have never made an exotic mortgage loan or taken on excessive risks.
Remember the famous sign on President Truman’s desk: “The Buck Stops Here.”? If you’re a leader, you probably already know that the buck stops with you.
As an employer or manager, you’re accountable to everyone who depends on the success and viability of your dairy ... your management team, your employees, your customers, your vendors, your lenders, your neighbors and last but certainly not least, yourself and your family.
RSS
